Bank Staff Recognition Ceremony

Commercial Crime Bureau held the Bank Staff Recognition Ceremony on March 22 at POC to commend and thank banks and their staff for their close collaboration with the Police and excellent performance in preventing and combatting deception cases.  The Commissioner, Siu Chak-yee, the Deputy Commissioner (Operations), Chow Yat-ming; the Director of Crime and Security, Yip Wan-lung; the Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Chung Wing-man; the Executive Director (Enforcement and AML) of the HKMA, Chu Lap-kiu Carmen and the Chairperson of AML Committee of the HKAB, Carol Li were invited to officiate at the ceremony.

Addressing the ceremony, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Siu Chak-yee, said that countries and regions are all facing the challenge of increasing numbers of deception cases and financial losses. A total of 39 824 deception cases were recorded in Hong Kong in 2023, registering an increase of 42.6 per cent compared with that of 2022, with loss as high as $9.18 billion. Nearly one out of every two crime cases involved deception. Apart from pecuniary losses, scam victims often face immense pressure and suffer psychological trauma due to self-blame or broken relationships with their families. In some extreme cases, victims may even commit suicide and lose their precious lives. The impact of deception on public order should not be overlooked. Therefore, the Police have been furthering their collaboration with the banking sector in combatting deception cases in recent years.

Mr Siu thanked the HKMA, the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) and the banking industry for their continued support and contributions, and looked forward to partnering with the banking industry to deepen "police-bank cooperation", jointly developing more strategic, proactive and innovative measures to comprehensively improve the effectiveness in combating deception cases, protecting the properties of the public and maintaining Hong Kong’s reputation as an international financial centre.

There are 287 bank staff members commended in the ceremony this year, assisting the police in identifying and discouraging 364 deception cases in the past year and a half. The number of frontline staff commended this year has significantly surpassed the 192 individuals last year, reaching a 50 percent increase. Moreover, six outstanding corporate awards are established, including Anti-Scam Excellence Award (Gold, Silver, Bronze), Anti-Scam Advancement Award, Effective Collaboration with Police Scam Response Team Award, Effective Publicity and Education Award, Exemplary Efforts in Upstream Scam Intervention Award and Effective Regtech Application Award, in recognition of the banks which assist the Police in the prevention and proactive detection of deception cases.

We have invited five winners of the "Spotlight Award" to shoot a series of anti-fraud short video and share their experiences.

Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited 

Nanyang Commercial Bank Limited 

Standard Chartered Bank Limited

The following five banks have been awarded the “Effective Publicity and Education Award” to commend their creative efforts in showcasing anti-scam promotional materials and enhancing scam prevention education through various channels to the general public, bank customers, and internal staff in the past year and a half. Here are the highlights.

China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited

CMB Wing Lung Bank Limited

When assisting customers with account opening procedures at a branch, bank staff will begin the process by providing customers with a reminder about the "Five Steps of Fraudsters."

DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited

The latest modus operandi of financial crimes and  anti-scam alerts		Identify "Impersonating Bank"  Text Message Game with Rewards

Hang Seng Bank Limited

Hang Seng Bank has launched "Fraud Charts" campaign and partnered with local artists to recreate popular songs in response to raise public awareness about various types of fraud and educate the public on fighting them.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

HSBC hosted an art exhibition "Fraud Fair" at Airside, Kai Tak from 22 November to 11 December 2023, which aimed at promoting public awareness on fraud prevention.